VIDEO UPDATE: We've obtained footage of the actual branding, which was recorded by a small camera inserted in the patient's stomach.
Click here to view the procedure with RealPlayer.
Click here to view the procedure with Windows Media Player.
Click here to view the procedure with QuickTime.

A Kentucky woman claims that a doctor branded her uterus with the initials of his alma mater during an operation to remove the organ last year, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday (1/22). Stephanie Means, a 38-year-old school administrator, alleges that while Dr. James Guiler (picture at left) performed an August 14 hysterectomy at Central Baptist Hospital in Lexington, he "used a cauterizing instrument to intentionally brand the letters 'UK,' approximately 4-5 cm in height, on Plaintiff Stephanie Means's uterus." Means's lawsuit notes that since she and her husband were apprehensive about the surgery, Guiler filmed the procedure and gave the couple a copy of the videotape, which, the Fayette Circuit Court lawsuit states, "clearly showed the instrument being used to brand Stephanie's uterus." Guiler, a 1976 graduate of the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, was a sponsor of a 2001 fundraiser benefitting UK's basketball museum. (4 pages)

*** 2/20 UPDATE: Nine more women claim Guiler branded them.

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